In this short gallery, Ars takes a look back at fifteen of the "future cars" …

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For those of us who grew up in the '80s, there's one catchphrase that defined our hopes and expectations for what the automobile could be like in that far, far distant future when we became as old as Marty McFly's parents: "where we're going, we don't need roads." But here we are in 2011, facing our forties, and we still need roads. The steering wheel is another matter. Indeed, if there's any component of the car as we know it that's about to be go unneeded thanks to technological innovation, it's the driver.

It's a shame that the earthbound, driverless reality of the real-world future of the automobile isn't nearly so much fun as the future-car fantasies that moviemakers and scientists have dangled before us over the past century. In this short gallery, Ars takes a look back at what we all thought that driving might one day be like in the future.

Da Vinci's Self-propelled Cart

The self-driving car might appear to be a recent invention, but like flying machines and armored tanks, it had its roots in the 15th and 16th century—specifically, in the workshop of Italian renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci. His primitive, self-propelled cart was one of many designs the inventor drew throughout his lifetime, even though it may have never been built.

In truth, the vehicle was far less a traditional automobile than it was an oversized wind-up toy, and it relied on a series of tightly wound coil springs to propel itself forward. Unique, however, was the ability to "program" the cart's direction using a system of specially placed woodblocks—essentially a primitive method of automation. A working model was recently produced by American engineer Mark Rosheim in 2000, and later, one was shown in Florence, Italy.

Da Vinci never actually planned to have the cart transport objects or people; he designed the contraption for the purpose of entertainment at Renaissance-era festivals instead. However, that's probably for the best; the cart could only be programmed to turn right, a shortcoming we're glad modern vehicles have long-since overcome.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Ian Fleming is known mainly for the creation of British super-spy James Bond. However, he also produced one piece of children's fiction, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Taking cues from old aero-engine racing cars—vehicles with powerful airplane engines attached—Fleming developed his tale of a car that is revealed to have impressive powers hidden within.

For example, when the car's eccentric owner Caractacus Pott is caught in traffic, the vehicle produces wings and flies overhead instead. Later, the car manages to transform into a hovercraft, traveling on water, and it even exhibits signs of intelligence and external awareness—like an early 20th century version of Knight Rider's KITT.

Fleming's story was eventually turned into a feature film of the same name in 1968, with a screenplay adapted by popular author Roald Dahl, giving moviegoers the chance to see the outlandish vehicle imagined on the big screen. In both cases, the foresight exhibited by both Fleming and Dahl is impressive—even if the car was intended to be more magical than futuristic.

Disney's EPCOT and The Magic Highway

The late Walt Disney is perhaps best known for producing some of the most popular and beloved animated features of all time. However, in 1958, Disney and his animators envisioned a world in which cars would drive far above the earth on massive, raised highways.

As explained in Disney's old, animated short, the vehicles on this "Magic Highway" would be fully automated; a driver simply "chooses the route in advance on a push-button selector, [and] electronics take over complete control. Progress can be accurately checked on a synchronized scanning map." Looking back, Disney got one thing right—those accurate, synchronized maps have been fully realized in the form of GPS navigation devices and smartphones. The promise of automation, however, is still a work in progress.

Years later, Disney pitched another, more comprehensive concept known as EPCOT—the Experimental Community Prototype of Tomorrow. This visionary blueprint imagined a Disney-built city that would be free of cars, long before pollution and environmental concerns dominated the public conscience. The plan was to designate sidewalks and roads as pedestrian areas, diverting any necessary vehicles underneath the idyllic cityscape.

Sadly, EPCOT's original design was scrapped following Disney's death in 1966, and it developed into a theme park instead.

The Chrysler "Solar Sedan"

From the minute the first Ford Model Ts rolled off the assembly lines, our oil-dependent future was sealed. However, a few smart-thinking visionaries one day realized that, instead of looking below for our insatiable fuel fix, it might be worth looking above—to the most plentiful source of energy we know. The sun, it was theorized, could one day be used to power everything form our homes to our vehicles, and futurists were giddy with optimism.

In fact, it wasn't uncommon to find manufacturers like Chrysler musing on the possibility of a solar-powered future. In 1958, then-Chrysler vice-president James C. Zeder predicted that, as the efficiency of solar panels increased, it could be possible to harness that energy for use in so-called "solar sedans." And in 1987 that's exactly what GM did, producing one of the most impressive solar-powered racecars to date—the Sunraycer.

Of course, the idealistic "solar sedan" envisioned by Chrysler over 50 years ago is still a long ways off—and even today, solar-powered vehicles require custom engines and aerodynamic designs just to function reliably. Still, it's not bad progress for what was once just a pipe dream in the minds of futurists and automotive VPs.

The I, Robot film didn't start life as such. That's why it's quite removed from the books themselves. Still, I enjoy Alex Proyas' work (obvious and forced product placement aside, something I wouldn't be surprised if he was loathe to include thus making them really in-your-face).

you forgot to mention the all direction wheels in the bit about i, robot.

Yeah, I kind of thought the solution to the enclosures was awkward, but the spherical "wheels" were pretty cool.

When I was trying to decide what to pick for the opening image of this story (my only contribution to it, and I ultimately decided it had to be something that was from the text and that the Lexus concept didn't really get any play) I did think about some others that weren't included. The Demolition Man cars, as mentioned, and in a slightly different vein but still legit I think was the car from Tron Legacy that was used as the getaway vehicle from the arena. The Batman Tumbler seemed like a legit choice too. Truthfully you could keep going on and on (robot Taxis from Total Recall?) without being exhaustive.

Edit: I saw the physical model of that Minority Report Lexus at the LA Auto Show the year the movie came out, it was fun to see it in person. That probably influenced my choice of image a bit too.

Can't wait for the self-driven car. It will liberate billions and trillions of man-hours.

Imagine being able to live out in the boonies and commuting to work with the ability to either work or sleep in the car. I would likely move away from downtown where I live now.

And to extend your concept, people would begin living further and further away from where they work, and doing more and more work and sleep in the car, until they get to the point where they're either at work or in the car, and never at home. Or at home and in the car, and never at work. Either of which begs the question, if you can do some or all of your work in the car, why couldn't you just stay at home and do it?

In fact, major car manufacturers are finally looking to bring the concept to market, and have demonstrated various implementations in recent years with varying degrees of success. Last year, GM used a combination of simple lasers and head tracking technology to highlight road signs and destinations directly on a driver's windshield. More impressive, however, were both Audi and Pioneer's heads-up display (HUD) prototypes at this year's Consumer Electronics show, where the two automotive giants were able to project full-motion, colour images onto a seemingly normal pane of glass.

And to extend your concept, people would begin living further and further away from where they work

This will be solved by the soaring gas prices and the limited ranges of EVs.

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Either of which begs the question

Raises.

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if you can do some or all of your work in the car, why couldn't you just stay at home and do it?

Because teleconferencing sucks. Improve the immersion and crank up the bandwidth (because that's another thing the boonies will not have) and you might convince the managers that being present isn't equal to productivity.

As long as they keep thinking that, you will not get rid of the need for commuting.

I second the awesomeness of self-driving cars, though. Luxury is when you've got someone to drive so you can engage in something that's more intellectually satisfying than dealing with all the other fools on the road who can't drive.

People give the "I, Robot" movie too much grief. It combines a lot of different tales that Asimov told into one story that was also capable of being fit into the action heavy way that Hollywood likes to address Sci-Fi.It was fairly true to Asimov's stories in the sense that it explored the implications created by his laws of robotics. Between Robots who for one reason or another were able to disregard them, or robots who through the logic the rules present come to an unexpected conclusion that is likely dangerous for all mankind. It was all in there.

You can't really make a whole movie about an aging scientist and one of her students interrogating a robot to find out why it thinks it's dreaming and then shooting it in the head. It wouldn't be a very entertaining movie.

Surely the future of cars is to not have any cars. They're a prop for a social construct that is gradually going away due to improved communications. The planet would be a whole better place if we didn't have to drive a tonne of metal about all the time.

Surely the future of cars is to not have any cars. They're a prop for a social construct that is gradually going away due to improved communications. The planet would be a whole better place if we didn't have to drive a tonne of metal about all the time.

I agree, but I don't think we'll be rid of personal transportation devices anytime in the foreseeable future. We will probably still call them cars, but I'd be astonished if 50 or 75 years from now they still were basically a box on 4 wheels.

Not that I am likely to find out. Some of us aren't "facing" our forties.

Can't wait for the self-driven car. It will liberate billions and trillions of man-hours.

Imagine being able to live out in the boonies and commuting to work with the ability to either work or sleep in the car. I would likely move away from downtown where I live now.

I'm hoping that this is a tongue-in-cheek comment, as we already have this capability, in the shape of trains and buses (and while most have a human driver, a lot of underground systems use automated trains, such as the Docklands Light Railway in London). Hell, you can even hire a taxi. You can sit and sleep, grab a book and read or even get online; at least in the UK; an increasing number of buses and trains offeri free wifi and power-sockets, so you can surf and keep your devices topped up.

They may not be as shiny, convenient or private as having your own electronic chauffeur (and I can attest from my daily commute that they can often be cramped, late or filled with fun things like teenages blasting out music from their phone, businessmen shouting down the phone and screaming babies). But they do work.

In many ways, I love the idea of automated cars - aside from the shiny factor, they have potential to be more fuel efficient and fix a lot of traffic problems, by automatically detouring and/or slowing down to avoid traffic jams (assuming people are happy with an external agency dictating speeds and routes...).

But realistically, cars are increasingly becoming an uneconomic way to travel; in the US, the cost of a 80 mile (40 miles each way; coincidentally, that's the distance I travel each day) commute has gone up in the last year by around $10 a week; in the UK, it's gone up by around $15 in the same period. Sooner or later, people are going to have to either move closer to where they work or use shared/public transport more, which opens a whole 'nother tin of worms...

People give the "I, Robot" movie too much grief. It combines a lot of different tales that Asimov told into one story that was also capable of being fit into the action heavy way that Hollywood likes to address Sci-Fi.It was fairly true to Asimov's stories in the sense that it explored the implications created by his laws of robotics. Between Robots who for one reason or another were able to disregard them, or robots who through the logic the rules present come to an unexpected conclusion that is likely dangerous for all mankind. It was all in there.

You can't really make a whole movie about an aging scientist and one of her students interrogating a robot to find out why it thinks it's dreaming and then shooting it in the head. It wouldn't be a very entertaining movie.

Um. The producers essentially bought the rights to the name and slapped it atop an existing murder-mystery script which had some Will Smith action scenes shoehorned in. Much as happened with Starship TroopersL: both movies pay lip service to the original material and feature some shiny CGI, but that's about it...

A few years ago BMW went on Top Gear to show off their self driving technology they were working on. They were able to have someone drive the car around the track once to have the car learn the track through GPS and then the car drove it by itself.

I thought this was a notable achievement, even if not a completely driverless option at this time.

In fact, major car manufacturers are finally looking to bring the concept to market, and have demonstrated various implementations in recent years with varying degrees of success. Last year, GM used a combination of simple lasers and head tracking technology to highlight road signs and destinations directly on a driver's windshield. More impressive, however, were both Audi and Pioneer's heads-up display (HUD) prototypes at this year's Consumer Electronics show, where the two automotive giants were able to project full-motion, colour images onto a seemingly normal pane of glass.

A basic HUD is already an option (since 2005) for some BMW's.

GM had for a few select car models also basic, but holographic HUDs back in Aug 2000 - I remember one in the 2001 Pointiac Grand Prix GT/GTX

Sooner or later, people are going to have to either move closer to where they work or use shared/public transport more, which opens a whole 'nother tin of worms...

I think this might be an interesting demographic trend in the next few decades. Post-war cities in the later half of the 20th century was all about moving out to the suburbs, cities basically exploding outward leaving the center of many cities (especially mid-sized cities) pretty much empty and abandoned. With rising fuel costs and environmental concerns I wonder if the first half of the 21st century will be about cities folding back in on themselves as people leave the suburbs and start moving back to the center of the city. It's already happening in some sense with gentrification of downtown areas in many cities and places like Detroit trying to consolidate its declining population closer to the center.

...there were also numerous superfluous features. Tear gas launchers, grappling hooks, and seat-ejection capabilities appeared throughout the series—features useful for fighting crime, but less so in day-to-day life.

In fact, major car manufacturers are finally looking to bring the concept to market, and have demonstrated various implementations in recent years with varying degrees of success. Last year, GM used a combination of simple lasers and head tracking technology to highlight road signs and destinations directly on a driver's windshield. More impressive, however, were both Audi and Pioneer's heads-up display (HUD) prototypes at this year's Consumer Electronics show, where the two automotive giants were able to project full-motion, colour images onto a seemingly normal pane of glass.

A basic HUD is already an option (since 2005) for some BMW's.

GM's also offered HUDs on the Cutlass in 1988, and the Corvette was the first with a color-display in 2001. I could be wrong, but I thought the BMW option was earlier than 2005 (2003 or so?).

Because teleconferencing sucks. Improve the immersion and crank up the bandwidth (because that's another thing the boonies will not have) and you might convince the managers that being present isn't equal to productivity.

In fact, major car manufacturers are finally looking to bring the concept to market, and have demonstrated various implementations in recent years with varying degrees of success. Last year, GM used a combination of simple lasers and head tracking technology to highlight road signs and destinations directly on a driver's windshield. More impressive, however, were both Audi and Pioneer's heads-up display (HUD) prototypes at this year's Consumer Electronics show, where the two automotive giants were able to project full-motion, colour images onto a seemingly normal pane of glass.

A basic HUD is already an option (since 2005) for some BMW's.

GM had for a few select car models also basic, but holographic HUDs back in Aug 2000 - I remember one in the 2001 Pointiac Grand Prix GT/GTX

My thoughts too. My friend's dad's Corvette from (~2000) had a simple HUD that would display some basic information such as speed and fuel levels. It was (and still is) very cool!